6,950 Global PITCHER Family Members

PITCHER Family History

This unusual surname, found chiefly in East Anglia, is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is thought, in some cases, to be from an occupational name for a "caulker", one who sealed the seams of ships with a mixture of rope fibres and pitch. The derivation is from the Middle English (1200 -1500) "pich", itself from the Olde English pre 7th Century "pic", meaning "pitch". Job-descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and later became hereditary. Alternately, it may be a regional name for someone from Picardy in Northern France, a region adjoining Normandy, from which many of William the Conquerors followers came, thus introducing this name into England after the 1066 Invasion.